Friday, October 30, 2009

If ever there is a dying media that needs to be desperately recovered, it's radio. Many other popular forms of media have made our lives easier and faster. These include cellular phones with web access, the various internet apps that are pioneered along the way for use with web enabled cellular telephones, and the ability to text anything to anyone at anytime.

Our insatiable need for everything to be given to us right now has fed a deep disorder in our society in which face to face relationships are diminishing. What is instant media teaching us? There is no course in any school which focuses on this technology, and cellphones are strictly banned in most venues because of the disturbances they create, not to mention danger in some instances.

Let's focus on what would happen if there were to be a wide-spread outage that could not be repaired within a reasonable amount of time. Our world would go absolutely crazy looking for ways to get their news, gossip, socialization, and quench our need to communicate.

Where would anyone with half a brain turn? Has the light gone on yet? Picture the scenario if it hasn't. Mass disorder would likely ensue. Who around you would have the ability to tell you what is happening? Who would be expected to have the means to communicate? Got any idea yet?

If you said emergency personnel, amateur, and commercial broadcasters, you would be correct!For what it would cost you to buy a pair of shoes at Payless, you could be in possession of a shortwave radio. If you had this resource for use anytime you wanted it, would you use it?There is so much to hear on the shortwave bands! There is a world outside of your own life that wants you to know about it! Being in touch with the world's events is vital because you are a citizen of the world even if you've never left your homeland!

Radio Prague has rendered a valuable world radio service since August 31st, 1936. radio Prague currently broadcasts in six different languages twenty four hours a day, with thirty minutes of programs at specific intervals being dedicated to new programmes in each of the six languages.The prime focus of these new programmes changes daily. More about the history of Radio Prague.

Radio is the last voice for human kind left in the world. Without it, we will surely be voiceless in a world where anything on the internet can be censored and sanitized because of concern for what those in powerful positions do not want you to know. We are living in times when the effort to control media communications has grown to such proportions that free speech is almost to the point of being impossible.

Everyday in the news, there are stories about people being arrested over their opinions, or being brought before the justice system in their locality due to something they texted on their cell phone. Radio is being suppressed in the name of budget cuts. Why, you ask do we want such an "outdated" technology?

Answer: Radio not only keeps people informed of events unfolding around them, but it also inspires learning about what real communications is! The dumber you are, the more controllable you are to those who have an agenda. If you use radio and have to learn UTC time conversions, learn about radio wave propagation, antennas, receivers, and receiver components....you open up a whole new world of possibilities for yourself.

Radio teaches Geography, Math, Sciences, and a whole list of useful knowledge!

Not all that long ago, the BBC World Service on Shortwave went away. Radio Prague cannot become a casualty! This station has served it's listening audience well for all these many decades, and there are citizens from all over the world who have no other way to keep in touch with what is happening back home, and some of them cannot afford the new technology that Shortwave is being replaced with.

Radio Prague has been one of the top broadcasters on the air since 1936. Radi oPrague has grown dear to countless listeners abroad who have written in to ask that Radio Prague be kept on the air. If Radio Prague becomes a casualty, not only will thi spart of the world be without a vital service, it will mark shortwave stations around the world as a continued easy target.

When Police Call went to the radio publication heaven to be fondly remembered, it wasn't long before Lindsay Blanton and the entire radio community knew that a reference had to be designed and published. Blanton worked many hard, long, hours to make what we all enjoy as Radio Reference.

Passport To World Band Radio is now in the same position as Police Call, only the author isn't anywhere near dead. It looks like the economy and the internet have coupled to make a deadly force meet a longstanding, time honored publication that has never ever lost it's value.

Most of us radio hobbyists and even those who are paid professionals in the industry will agree that this is a rather rude thing to happen! Not that anything is fair in respects to radio, but that's another discussion. Everyone rally around and support Passport To World Band Radio!

In case this treasure of a publication ever does die, we hope Lindsay Blanton would make it a feature of his Radio Reference empire! How about it Lindsay?

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Information from two sources say that listeners around the world can hear BBR on 5050 kHz and 9820 kHz. This is a new station on the airwaves and the first to break the news was Miami's own Miami Radio International! Story here!

BBR Radio has a link here. Be warned however, that your browser may need a plug-in to allow the Chinese script to be read in English. If you speak another language, check to see if your browser has a plug-in available for you to translate the website for you.

Guangxi People’s Radio and China Radio International are responsible for the launching of this new station which the partnership hopes will deepen friendship in other nearby countries. The station will be on the air from 0700-2400 daily (2300-1600 UTC), in Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Thai and English. China Radio International covers the story complete with photos.

Anyone who hears this station is encouraged to send in their signal reports. At this time, this blog has no information about how to send signal reports directly to BBR. Please feel free to send your reception reports and any other BBR related information to this blog in the comments section or in the listed e-mail address.

Keith Perron, who is a popular veteran shortwave personality has re-surfaced as the host of the "Happy Station Show" on the 41 meter band, broadcasting from Taiwan. The Happy Station show has been around since 1928. This popular shortwave website reports on the show.

Keith Perron has worked hard during his career. To be the host of what has been dubbed the "new" "Happy Station Show" is a treat given the show's long history. Keith is a fun, outgoing, professional man who has built his life around radio broadcasting. This link takes you to Keith's Bio.

The Happy Station Show can be heard on this schedule:

The Happy Station Show broadcast schedule via WRMI to North and South America: 0100-0155 UTC Thursdays on 9955 kHz Repeated 1500-1555 UTC Thursdays on 9955 kHz

The Cuban Numbers Lady is at it again, and there is even more reason to suspect within reason that RHC may be hosting the transmitter used for this one way transmission of cryptic numbers.

A thread at a popular internet radio hobbyist site started on 10-26-09 that speaks about how the recent transmission went down. The person who started the thread states to have a recording of the end of the transmission. The "lady" said "Tonight" three times and then all you heard was a phone ringing in the background. "5.900.00 AM Voice Radio Habana Cuba now on the air at 5.742.00 / 5.745.00 AM just at the same time the Cuban Numbers Station goes QRT without warning". A witness to her transmissions in voice and CW had the same observation in regards to a phone ringing. "I heard this all last night from 0400 -0800 on 5800 5810 5988 5900 with either cw or voice, phone ringing and wierd bust pattern noise i never heard before." says the witness.

Strangely enough, these transmissions use the same numbers pad more than once. Very unusual for a numbers station to do. The numbers pads do get changed around, but then they use one of them again at a later date when they think people may have forgotten.

Amateur Radio use in times of disaster or pending disaster has been one of the staples of the named radio service since ages ago. Earlier on in the past months, W0WLS was the focus of the attention of Laura Smith via a "private" e-mail sent to him by her asking for an answer in return from him on the matter. Many threads were started around the internet on this subject, and the FCC has issued the last word on the appropriate use of amateur radio in disaster drills.

Many people have questioned whether or not Government agencies who have employees who are holders of amateur radio licenses will take the time to do the extra paperwork, and perform the proper supervision tasks to ensure that their employees are comliant and now we have an answer.

The ARRL is advising Government agencies who wish their employees to use amateur radio for their drills to submit their waiver requests ahead of time and not at the last minute.